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Old Malcom Swann Gin

A wooden cotton gin complex photographed from across a wire fence. The two-storey gin house stands at centre right with a tall metal stack beside it and an elevated water tank on a timber frame; a long open shed on posts runs off to the left, with a smaller gabled building beyond it and a horse and buggy at the far left. Two men stand in the upper doorway of the gin house at the head of a plank stair. Baled cotton is stacked in the foreground, one bale stencilled 345, with about a dozen men and boys posed on and around the bales - an older bearded man in a light shirt and dark vest seated at centre. Rough grass and cut timber in front of the fence. The mount is chipped and foxed, with a notch cut from the upper right corner and a scatter of dark spots along the lower margin. — Recto

Description

A wooden cotton gin complex photographed from across a wire fence. The two-storey gin house stands at centre right with a tall metal stack beside it and an elevated water tank on a timber frame; a long open shed on posts runs off to the left, with a smaller gabled building beyond it and a horse and buggy at the far left. Two men stand in the upper doorway of the gin house at the head of a plank stair. Baled cotton is stacked in the foreground, one bale stencilled 345, with about a dozen men and boys posed on and around the bales - an older bearded man in a light shirt and dark vest seated at centre. Rough grass and cut timber in front of the fence. The mount is chipped and foxed, with a notch cut from the upper right corner and a scatter of dark spots along the lower margin.

People

Malcom Swann, 1828-1910
The gin carries his name and an older man sits prominently at the center of the group. Nothing specifically identifies Malcom, but the figure sitting in the center matches what Malcom looked like.
Austin Swann, 1860-1931
A figure matching Austin Swann sits two spots to the right of Malcom.

Details

Inscriptions

verso · ink
The Old Malcom Swann Gin - at the home place
verso · pencil
early Built ab[out] 1885
Upper left, in a different hand and medium from the ink caption. Partly obscured by a tape residue.
Note — this dates the subject, not the photograph.
verso · pencil
c.1.4.1

Control number: c.1.4.1
Format: mounted photograph
Photographer: Unknown (attributed)
Place: Jacobia, Texas
Date: Between 1890 and 1895Probable[1890-1895]
Evidence
The verso reads "Built ab[out] 1885," which dates the gin, but not the photograph. The photograph can only be later.
The gin is described as "old" by the person who wrote the caption, but that inscription is undated and may be much later than the exposure.
Malcom Swann and Austin Swann are visible in this photograph. Austin Swann got married around 1886, but he looks older here than in his wedding picture.
A estimated date of 1890 to 1895 is assigned based on the factors presented.
Collection: Swann Family Photographs
IIIF manifest: manifest.json · Open in Mirador

Also in the collections

Malcom Swann6 more

[1900-1901]
[1875-1878]
[1895]
[1895]
[1903-1904]
[1910]

Austin Swann17 more

1924
[1928]
[1927]
[1921-1922]
[1924-1926]
1931

All photographs of Austin Swann

Rights

Public domain.

Public Domain Mark 1.0

Download

Recto

Sharing copy 2600 × 2062 px, 1.2 MB

Full scan 8686 × 6887 px, 14 MB

For personal and research use. Please cite it as below.

Cite this photograph

Unknown (attributed). Old Malcom Swann Gin. 1890–1895. Mounted photograph. Control no. c.1.4.1. Swann Family Photographs, collection of Austin Allison. https://austinlallison.com/collections/swann-family/old-malcom-swann-gin.

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